Research in Human-Animal Interaction
Wells, D. L., and P. G. Hepper.
Applied Animal Behaviour Science, v. 61, p. 341-349, 1999.
The reactions of male and female dogs housed in an animal rescue shelter towards the presence of men and women were investigated. The response of 30 dogs housed in the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA) to each of 3 men and 3 women, standing individually for 2 minutes at the front of the dog's cage, was observed. The amount of time that the dog spent at the front of the cage, barking, looking towards the human, wagging its tail, and engaged in activities of sitting, standing, moving, resting, was recorded. Canine gender affected the amount of time that dogs spent looking towards the humans. Female dogs showed a greater decrease in the amount of time they spent looking towards the humans over the course of the testing than male dogs. Human gender had an effect on both dog barking, and eye orientation. Dogs showed a stronger decrease in barking and tendency to look towards the human whenever the subject was a women than a man, suggesting that dogs may be more defensively-aggressive towards men than women. There was no interaction between canine and human gender on the response of the dog towards the persons. This study indicated that both canine and human gender affect certain elements in the response of a dog towards the presence of a human. The findings may have practical implications for the re-housing of dogs from rescue shelters